I have 9 dead SIM cards in the top drawer of
my dressing table. I counted them on Sunday. None of them work.
The oldest is a Tata Docomo card from 2012 with my college roll number scribbled
on it. I found it while looking for a charger. I held it for a
minute like it was a coin. Then I put it back in the drawer. Of course
I did. The charger was in the kitchen anyway. Each one is a different phase.
The red Vodafone one is from my first job at a call centre. The Jio
one is from the week I quit that job and changed my number out of spite.
2 of them I can't even identify. No operator name, no number, just a blank
gold chip and some dust. My brother says old SIM cards can be misused and
I should cut them up. He's right. I own scissors. On Sunday I took them
to the kitchen table with scissors. I cut a small corner off the Docomo one.
Then I stopped. My mother walked in, saw the scissors, and asked who I
was planning to fight. I said SIM cards. She looked at the pile, sighed, and
said she has 14 of her own in a biscuit tin. So that's where I
get it from. 2 women, 23 dead SIM cards, and 1 small pair of scissors.
The corner is gone, so technically it's not intact anymore. I'm counting
that as progress. My brother disagrees. Next to it the other 8 are
in a small zip pouch now, so at least it looks organised. The
pouch is labelled in marker. SIM cards, do not throw. I wrote
that to myself, in my own handwriting. Anyone who opens that drawer in
20 years will find it and think I was a very serious person.